Every person has their own idiosyncratic tendencies. However, it is when you are able to break free from them and make more generalized connections one is truly sociable. But you cannot just simply be fully expressive with your idiosyncrasies. You must share a common language with those you intend to reach first. Even though we may all speak, say English that doesn’t mean our words mean that same thing all the time. To decode the true meaning of things we often need a key. There are many keys to life however, and many doors. What if you have a key but don’t know the door to which it belongs? That door my friend is the Cypher.
The first post I made here was my commitment to the long night. The darkness, the unknown the void, chaos. I call it many names but it means the same thing. While out exploring the void, I figure I’d have fun while at it. To leave clues to where I’ve been. Leave a door so I could get back to that place at a later time but faster since I would have already moved on. In that way, Cyphers are shortcuts.
The image that I come to accept as my personal logo is called Hei Shi. The Chinese for Black Lion. I designed it not for any particular reason initially. I simply had a dream and needed to capture it and not forget. Writing it down in words was beyond my capabilities so I made an image. I did not want to use the word panther so I said Black Lion. I did not want to use English so I said Hei Shi. The image was my Cypher. A coded message to myself.
Soon, realising there are many people like myself scattered all over the place, I started to Cypher more. To see who walks through the doors.
What does Hei Shi mean? I will tell you the grounded answer. The more abstract sky version of the answer time has not yet come. Simply put, it’s a hand. It’s the palm of a hand with the thumb removed. In the middle of the hand is written the letter A, turned upside-down. Hei Shi is in the form of a hand.
It’s my right hand to be precise. Took the picture myself and photoshopped it. The A, I meant it to mean Anarchist or simply Alpha. I didn’t decide on that and left it ambiguous. The colors – Red and Black. A homage to Marcus Garvey and the Pan-African movement.
By applying my Cypher, I turned a hand into some far less obvious image. With each iteration I added another layer of abstraction. It is these layers of abstractions that give rise to idiosyncrasies. But at the same time, it is the underlying reality that makes them remotely accessible. When I wrote Babel, I had this idea in mind. But how effective is it to encode our thoughts into things we produce? If you never exposed yourself to the thinking of an engineer you might say it’s not effective at all.
When I create a logo or anyone else for that matter. When they make visual images, they intend to invoke a set of mental associations. The images become a sign for the activation of an associative network. If that network doesn’t exist within your knowledge base, the image means nothing. But if it does, sparks go off. This all happens in the abstract. At the base of any image are basic signs. An example of a basic sign is a human hand. Since we all have hands. The body overall is a storehouse of basic signs.
The ARM image has all the five fingers. Right beneath the thumb and where the middle of the palm should be is the Akoben. The Akoben is an Andinka image. This image can’t be said to be basic since it’s not universally accessible. In that it’s more culturally unique and as such idiosyncratic. It’s a more abstract image to understand. To the Andinka people the Akoben symbolise, Vigilance and Wariness.
The completed design was for an organisation some friends and I put together. After coming up with a name, I was task with making the symbol. I had to encrypt meaning into different signs. This is what I mean by Cypher. To encrypt meaning into things you produce in life. To encrypt meaning into actions you take in life. To Cypher is to leave in your wake, a code. A doorway to where you have been and possibly to where you are going.
Hei Shi is a hand without a thumb. Hands like that aren’t good at handling tools but they are good at swinging on branches. A four fingered hand may grasp but it will not hold too tightly. The five fingered hand with the opposable thumb is the hand of a tool wielder. There are tools that cannot be wielded by one person but takes many. Even though you may only need one to find it.
I make Cyphers so that eventually there will be tool wielders. Wielders worthy enough since they would have proved themselves to be observers and seekers. Wanders who happen upon a door. A call to adventure that’s hidden in the mundane. And with their newfound tools, they will become Weavers of a new civilisation.
The Social Philosopher 